After revealing their half-year single, album, and music DVD rankings for the first half of 2011, Oricon has published yet another article on the most successful record labels so far. Coming in first place for the third year in a row is Sony Music Entertainment, who made approximately 25.32 billion yen (around 320 million USD, 94.8% of the earnings from the previous period). Some of their biggest contributors include Ikimonogakari – who recently made a comeback with the single “Warattetainda” – and the Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne, who is signed under Arista / RCA (owned by Sony Music) and promotes under Sony in Japan. Meanwhile, King Records pulled in 158.6% of last period’s sales due to AKB48’s explosive popularity. The label moved from eighth place to sixth place because of AKB48’s hit single “Ponytail to Shushu” in the last half-year ranking, and has jumped ahead another position to fifth place with the overwhelming success of the idol group’s general election, million-selling singles “Everyday Kachuusha” and “Sakura no Ki ni Narou“, and first original album “Koko ni Ita Koto“. Check out the full ranking below! - 01. Sony Music Entertainment – ¥25.32 billion (94.8%) 02. avex Group Holdings – ¥19.52 billion (80.7%) 03. Universal Music - ¥17.53 billion (101.8%) 04. J Storm – ¥12.42 billion (114.7%) 05. King Records – ¥10.39 billion (158.6%) 06. EMI Music Japan - ¥6.56 billion (79.5%) 07. Victor Entertainment - ¥5.95 billion (100.7%) 08. Warner Music Japan – ¥5.51 billion (119.7%) 09. Pony Canyon – ¥5.26 billion (112.8%) 10. Nihon Columbia - ¥3.19 billion (58.6%) Source: Oricon, Tokyohive
